By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Dimitris Agravanis is no longer featured for Greece en route to the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
Agravanis, 28, opted to withdraw his participation leaving the training camp after morning practice Thursday, citing personal reasons, as described in an official press release by the Hellenic Basketball Federation.
Earlier in his career, the experienced forward made the final cut to compete in the 2017 and 2022 editions of EuroBasket. At the club level, he currently is a free agent, coming off a brief stint with Panathinaikos.
The team coached by Dimitris Itoudis is wrapping up the 32nd Aegean Acropolis Tournament by playing host to Italy tonight in Athens, 18:45 CET. Greece previously lost the tournament opener to Serbia, on the heels of two wins in a home-and-away series opposite Slovenia and Luka Doncic.
With several players, including Nick Calathes and Kostas Sloukas, skipping international action this summer, Giannis Antetokounmpo might join the list. The Freak, leader of the Milwaukee Bucks, has yet to join the training camp.
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Suiting up against Italy will be Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Lefteris Bochoridis, Manolis Hatzidakis, Giannoulis Larentzakis, Michalis Lountzis, Konstantinos Mitoglou, Dimitris Moraitis, Giorgos Papagiannis, Kostas Papanikolaou, Ioannis Papapetrou, Nikos Rogkavopoulos, Vassilis Toliopoulos, Giorgos Tsalmpouris, and Thomas Walkup. Instead, Panagiotis Kalaitzakis will be a healthy scratch.
Traveling to Abu Dhabi, Greece will take on the USA and Germany on 18 and 19 August to complete the schedule of exhibition contests before diving into World Cup action.
In Group C of the preliminary round, Jordan, the USA, and New Zealand are the teams to beat. The top two seeds will be placed in Group J of the second round, but the bottom two countries move to Group N switching to a battle to rank between 17th and 32nd.